Recently we asked our readers to share with us their predictions for the 2013 GPS industry. Well that’s exactly what Andres Ramirez from Meitrack USA has done this week with his predictions for the next 12 months. If you also would like to provide your own predictions to have published on GPS Bites then please get in touch with us via our contact page.
Prediction 1
As we discussed in our GPS Bites interview, the growing Smartphone industry will continue to threaten GPS tracker manufacturers in 2013 specifically in the personal tracking industry. More and more Smartphone giants like Apple, Samsung, Google, Nokia, Rim, will continue to incorporate features already being offered in GPS personal trackers.
In 2012, Apple introduced geo-fence capabilities into its iPhone that offered customers the capability to assign specific fences in certain locations on a map. Once that phone leaves a designated area predetermined by another party, an alert is generated and sent as a push notification to the user. Google soon followed after this development. We know that this technology has been around for several years and has been offered by GPS tracker manufacturers, but as Smartphones continue to get smarter, the more features become available to the consumer.
With that said, in 2013, Apple, Google, Samsung, and the rest of the Smartphone giants will push their operating systems to produce other mapping capabilities that CAN’T be found on a personal trackers. Such features are “Indoor GPS”. The more features that are found on a Smartphones, the less need there will be for GPS personal trackers. Allow me to explain why this is so.
In 2007, Apple revolutionized the Smartphone industry by introducing the iPhone Soon after, other phone providers begin to copy the technology. Before 2007, ALL Smartphones had keyboards. The iPhone features such as a touch screen reduced the need to carry a Blackberry and soon after, Blackberry was close to being bankrupt. Prior to 2007, Blackberry controlled a good percentage of the Smartphone market. Consumers wanted something new, something revolutionary and they found that with the iPhone.
Coming back to our prediction, Consumers want GPS technology on their smartphones to reduce the need for personal tracking. Consumers want their phones to do everything for them, such as being able to charge a credit card from their phone, being able to send/wire money from their phone, and being able to locate their loved one from their phone w/o installation, w/o another product (personal tracker).
Prediction 2
Moving away from the consumer, the one industry that I predict will boom in 2013 is the animal tracking industry. In 2013, GPS trackers will be more common amongst animals to study clan societies and interactions. This is already being done, but rather than attaching a GPS tracker onto an animal, GPS trackers will be implanted into the body.
Some studies show that trackers can be charged by muscle movement which will reduce the need for a power source. The animal body becomes the battery. GPS technology is going “nano” and the ability to implant will become available in 2013. After 2013, the nano GPS technology will go mainstream and be incorporated/implanted in consumer’s pets after the trials are successful on dogs, cats, etc.